Let’s do launch! This week we’re serving up an intergalactic adventure from 1968 care of the hotel chain Howard Johnson, which gives a child friendly look at the film 2001: A Space Odyssey. John Sisson, on his blog Dreams of Space, recently scanned in a menu and comic book which was released by HoJo as a promotional tie-in, featuring iconic moments from the film.

You’re All Just Jealous of My Jetpack is the title of a new book by the British cartoonist Tom Gauld. Over the last eight years Gauld has been creating a weekly cartoon for The Guardian and this beautiful hardback book is a compendium of many of his best works. Released through the Canadian publishers Drawn and Quarterly, the book features plenty of cartoons which havn’t been seen outside of the UK before.

Canadian illustrator, cartoonist and designer John Martz has just released a new book called Destination X and it’s well worth checking out! Inspired by old pulp sci-fi novels, ghost stories and episodes of The Twilight Zone, Martz’s book is a fantastic sci-fi parable about obsession and single-mindedness.

The comic book tells the story of Sam, the grandson of a world-renowned space adventurer. Impressed by his grandfather’s tales of mysterious planets and alien romance, Sam decides to model his life on his grandfathers, stopping at nothing to fulfill what he believes to be his natural destiny — even if his grandfather’s stories aren’t true.

During stressful launches, NASA’s jet Propulsion Laboratory mission control eats handfuls of peanuts for good luck. Peanuts have been a part of space exploration for a long time. A dedicated reader passed along the above PeanutsSnoopy astronaut action figure: Snoopy was the NASA Manned Flight Awareness Program mascot (with the blessing of Peanuts creator Charles Schultz) and spoke out for flight safety. NASA even awards a “Silver Snoopy Award” to employees and contractors for outstanding human flight safety achievements.

Tom Stafford and Gene Cernan of Apollo X named their Lunar Module (LM) Snoopy. The Command Service Module was named Charlie Brown.

I came across this image from Mai the Psychic Girl by Ryoichi Ikegami and instantly fell in love. Part pop art, part manga, this image is stunning. Thankfully I was able to find this version which was redrawn by Gwendal Ugeuen and put on Flickr.

I was bummed out to hear earlier today that comic book artist Joe Kubert passed away at the age of 85. Joe Kubert, who drew his first comic for DC in 1943, was well known for his work with such characters as Sgt. Rock and Hawkman. He was also beloved for starting The Kubert School, “a three-year technical school that teaches the principles of sequential art and the particular craft of the comics industry as well as commercial illustration.” I learned to love the work of Joe Kubert more recently with his work on Sg.t Rock for Wednesday Comics, which was scripted by his son Adam. I thought it was interesting how his work seemed to get a little simplified in his older age, especially compared to the heavily detailed and shaded work of his younger years. It’s a sad loss, and the world is a more beautiful place because he was in it.

Exceptional comic book artist Daniel Clowes sat down with the New York Times ArtsBeat about his work and where his life has lead him. It’s funny to hear that he sees his characters as being nothing like him at their creation, only to revisit them years later and all he can see is himself in them.

Yesterday I was introduced to the work of Connor Willumsen, a Montreal based artist who’s making some of the most unique web comics I’ve ever seen. So far I’ve read two of his works, Everett and Explanation For Sator Stuff, both of which are extremely weird but brilliant. I highly suggest taking the time to read both of these, I had so much fun reading these, scrolling has never been so rewarding.